Five present WWE superstars who had awesome matches outside the WWE

The WWE is the pinnacle of sports entertainment, and almost every wrestler in the world wishes to work for Vince McMahon and appear before the millions and millions of WWE fans. Before they appear in the WWE, wrestlers usually prove themselves working in a number of promotions such as IMPACT, House of Hardcore, Ring of Honor, and New Japan Pro Wrestling. In this list we take a look at times present WWE superstars wowed the fans outside the WWE.

Honorable mentions

The WWE roster is made up of talented individuals who have appeared in multiple promotions all over the world. Since this list only mentions five WWE wrestlers, several others deserve an honorable mention.

Becky Lynch earns an honorable mention for her work with One Pro Wrestling, SuperGirls Wrestling and Queen of Chaos. Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows also appear because of their time as members of the Bullet Club.

5. Drew McIntyre

During his initial run with the WWE, Vince McMahon touted the Scottish Psychopath as the Chosen One and the future of the WWE because not only was he gifted in the middle of the ring, but his character work was also exemplary. In 2014, WWE released McIntyre from his contract giving him the chance to work outside the company and improve his skills.

Drew worked in a number of promotions after his release, starting with Insane Championship Wrestling, where he had some of his most memorable matches.

He fought one of his most memorable matches while in Denmark against Chaos and Michael Fynne who at the time was the Danish Pro Wrestling Champion. At the end of the match, Drew was a double champion, having retained his ICW Heavyweight Champion and winning Michael's championship.

Drew McIntyre also had an unforgettable match against Ricochet at Evolve 33.

4. Seth Rollins

Seth Rollins is currently the WWE Intercontinental Champion and arguably one of WWE's biggest stars at the moment, but before he was Monday Night Rollins, Seth was one of the most popular stars on the independent circuit.

Rollins used to wrestle under the name Tyler Black, and under this name he had several memorable matches. In 2010, Black successfully defended his ROH Championship against both Austin Aries and Roderick Strong in a fight that was praised for its technicality as well as storytelling.

This wasn't the only time that Seth Rollins and Austin Aries brought the house down as in 2009 they fought at Ring of Honor Final Battle.

3. Daniel Bryan

One of the most respected superstars in both the WWE and the independent circuit is Daniel Bryan. His recovery from injury then subsequent return to in-ring competition is one of the wrestling industry's greatest comeback stories.

Before Daniel's name became famous among the members of the WWE Universe, he was famous all over the world in the independent circuit. Daniel Bryan earned accolades for his technical prowess and his ability to engage with the fans' emotion.

Some of his best matches happened while he was at ROH, with one notable example being a triple threat match in which he fought Christopher Daniels and Low Ki. Another awesome fight was against Naomichi Marufuji as Daniel defended his Ring of Honor World Championship.

2. Finn Balor

Very few WWE superstars have resonated with the fans in the same way that Finn Balor has over his tenure at the company. Part of the reason for his popularity with the fans is the success he enjoyed in other promotions, mainly New Japan Pro Wrestling.

Some of the best matches that Finn wrestled were in 2010 during the Best of the Super Juniors tournament. Some of his opponents during the competition included Kota Ibushi and Taiji Ishimori, with whom he had world-class matches.

Finn Balor also had an epic six-man tag team match in CMLL where he teamed up with Marco Corleone and Rush to face Ultimo Guerrero, Mephisto, and Volador Jr.

1. AJ Styles

Many people hold the opinion that AJ Styles might be the greatest superstar ever to step foot in a WWE ring. Before the WWE, AJ earned the respect of the wrestling world by how hard he worked in TNA, ROH, and NJPW.

During his early years, Styles worked for ROH, where he soon found himself competing against the likes of Paul London and Low Ki.

Several of the best matches AJ has been involved in, both in the WWE and in the outside it, were against Samoa Joe. They have battled for numerous titles such as the ROH World Championship, the X-Division Championship, and the TNA World Heavyweight Championship.

Wrestling Observer Newsletter ranked his match against Minoru Suzuki as the best match of 2014.

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